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FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fionnuala Sweeney at CNN Center. The headlines this hour. 62 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the first round of Egyptian elections this week, the highest turnout in the country's history according to the election board. Other results are also to be announced, including the winning candidates in the district. But voters so far (inaudible) the parliament. We'll bring them to you as soon as they are announced.

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel is pulling for a fiscal union in Europe to resolve the EuroZone debt crisis. But she tells parliament in private a crisis won't be over (inaudible) within a drum beat. EU leaders are set to hold a two day summit on the crisis next week. They're under massive pressure to come up with a credible agreement.

Online video today appears to show protests continuing in Syria while the UN human rights council sent a strong message to the regime. It condemn, quote, gross violations by Syrian authorities and urged action by other UN bodies possibly including the security council and the International Criminal Court.

A major milestone in the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. The Iraqi government has officially taken over control of Camp Victory in Baghdad. It was the largest American base in the country at one time, housing more than 40,000 people.

The 16 teams competing in the Euro 2012 football championship now know their groupings. Analysts say Group B is the so-called group of death. The Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, and Germany are all lumped together. And the tournament itself begins in June.

And those are the headlines. I'm Fionnuala Sweeney at CNN Center. Quest Means Business live from CNN London starts right now.

Good evening. Under (inaudible) orders, Europe's leaders are ready and set for a marathon effort to gain control of the region's debt crisis. Well, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that she's determined to win victory for the EuroZone, even if that means changing the rules of the race. She joined Nicolas Sarkozy in calling for true economic unity.

And the tonight the markets are getting support from strong U.S. jobs data. We're going to be live in New York for more on that in just a moment's time.

Also to help us draw together all of these strands, we're joined by political cartoonist Andy Bundy. He's already started drawing just a few moments ago and things are already taking shape. We'll be checking in with him later in the show to see exactly what he's working on.

Now, Mrs. Merkel says that there is no alternative but to change the treaties that govern Europe. In a speech to the German parliament the chancellor said that Europe is facing a battle it just cannot afford to lose.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Europe is facing its hardest test. As German chancellor, I will do everything so that Europe will emerge stronger after the crisis than before it went in. There is too much at play, especially for Germany and the Germans. Despite all the recent turbulences, the euro has proven itself. It is strong and has a more stable value than the Deutschmark.

As an export nation, Germany profits especially from the euro. But the euro is much more than a currency, because of the economic and currency union we have climbed a further step of integration in Europe. The euro represents Europe's will to harden its internal development and to face up to the global challenges of today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: Having said that, though, not all of Europe's leaders have seem to jumping on the unity bandwagon. The British Prime Minister David Cameron met with Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris earlier and he said that he didn't think that Europe necessarily needed treaty change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: When you look at the crisis in the EuroZone the real need there is is for the institutions of the EuroZone to get behind the currency, to convince the markets that they have the fire power to do that. The second fundamental thing is real competitiveness throughout the EuroZone so the EuroZone works properly.

Neither of those things actually require a treaty change. But I'm very clear if there is treaty change than I will make sure that we further protect and enhance Britain's interests. So we'll see what happens next Friday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: We've got a couple more hours of trading to go on Wall Street before this busy week wraps to a close. And markets in the United States are on course to cap one of their best weeks in many years.

There are a number of things that are moving the markets today, in particular jobs numbers have helped to move them higher. We'll have more on that a little later on in the show, but banking stocks also have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of this particular trend and that has been helping, as you can see behind me, to lift the Dow Jones industrial average up already about a quarter of one percent.

We saw a similar picture for stocks here in Europe as well. Big gains for some of the banks across the continent, pushing those indexes higher. These are the closing numbers. We you can see we have green arrows across the board. A number of these markets ended the day up to the tune of about 1.25 percent, and three quarters of one percent if you look at the Frankfurt DAX.

Now all of this is coming despite rumors of a downgrade for Spain's credit writing -- rating, I should say. And we also have investors very worried about speculation over whether the ECB could step in and try and help to fund some of these European countries. Nevertheless, as I was just saying, each of the big four managing to close the week higher.

Now the rhetoric certainly has shifted throughout the course of this week. And next week the actual rules could start to change. Starting on Monday, things are going to be getting a little bit more intense. Jim Boulden takes a look ahead at what might be one of the biggest weeks in Europe's history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So let's look at the week in words as far as the EuroZone goes. And we'll start with President Sarkozy of France.

On Thursday night he gave a very important speech. And he said basically there has to be a refounding and a rethinking of the EuroZone. I see that as sort of hitting the reset button. A whole rethink of how it's all going to be come the New Year.

Interestingly, of course, we have some words for people who are outside the EuroZone. For instance, the bank of England governor Mervin King, he said the whole euro crisis is actually extraordinarily serious. You don't hear that all the time from central bankers, but he wanted to make it very clear that this is an extraordinary time. EuroZone people better get their act together. He also hinted very strongly that they're looking at contingency plans in case the euro breaks up.

Of course we have the leader of Germany Angela Merkel the center of the storm. She had a speech on Friday morning to the German parliament and she used that very important terms fiscal union. Fiscal union is the aim. The question is how do you get to that? That's what we're going to find out in the next week.

Finally, we look at the head of the ECB, Mr. Mario Draghi. And he said it's the sequencing that matters. In other words, you've got to get the governments to do what they need to do first, then you get the European Union and the EuroZone to do what they need to do. Hint hint, then European central bank would step in with more money. We'll have to see if that happens.

That's this week. Let's look at what happens next week.

Monday we have a mini summit between Sarkozy and Merkel. They will be meeting to try to hash out this idea of a fiscal plan. And this plan would be very important as far as what happens later in the week. Tuesday, Ireland -- let's not forget about Ireland, they have a budget plan for 2012. Much of this has already been leaked. We know they're going to be raising some taxes, which did not make Irish people very happy, but it's important to note that Ireland is growing, the economy is growing. They got in trouble early. They're trying to come out of this early as well.

Greece also has a budget on Wednesday with be the vote very important, of course. They're going to have to go through more austerity. They're going to have to have more unpopular tax rises, more pension reforms. We saw a strike this week in Greece. But it doesn't seem that Greece is going to back down.

Thursday, very interesting, European central bank, they're going to have possibly another rate cut. That would help the markets very much. Then on Friday, we have the big day. And that, of course, the EU summit.

Adding to the pressure, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be in Europe next week to meet the leaders ahead of this summit. He's going to be putting pressure on them, telling them exactly what the U.S. wants to see the EuroZone do.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOS SANTOS: So it looks like it's going to be pretty busy week to people like Jim Boulden and myself. Better rest up over the course of the weekend.

Now the latest signal is deepening turmoil in the world's financial markets. And many banks are now turning to the ECB to help them with their short-term funding. EuroZone banks borrowed more than 8 billion euros, or $11 billion from the ECB overnight just on Thursday. It's the most the central bank has ever loaned out over night since at least the month of Marsh, let's say.

And that shows that some of these banks, in particular, just can't get the funding from the open market, i.e. getting one another to lend to each other. In fact, we have some data on this particular point. The Bank of International Settlements has been saying that lending between financial institutions fell in the three months up until June. And that's the first time that we actually saw that particular thing happening since the big credit crunch of 2008.

Bank of England governor Mervyn King says the antidote to all this is, well it seems more capital. He urged UK banks earlier this week to beef up their reserves in order to try and boost market confidence. However, there was a downside to that, because hoarding capital makes credit more spread out. And we all know what that means, it makes it more expensive.

Now Berenberg Bank senior economist Christian Schulz joins me now live in our London studio to tell us exactly what all of this means. Good to see you, Christian. And thanks for coming on the show.

We do have a bit of a crisis in the inter-bank lending market don't we? Is it becoming like 2008, dare I say?

CHRISTIAN SCHULZ, SENIOR ECONOMIST, BERENBERG BANK: Well, it would be as in 2008 if we had the same toolset that we had at the time. But this is different now. At the time banks, central banks, couldn't put themselves in the position of, you know, central counterparties to the banking world. That's whats happening now. Banks, instead of lending to each other, are using the central bank as a sort of intermediary. And that helps, of course, to keep banks from failing.

DOS SANTOS: Now without getting too inside baseball, there's an interesting dynamic going on here. Not only are these EuroZone banks not lending to each other because there's a crisis of confidence about what people have on their balance sheets, but also the ECB is buying bonds in the market without creating inflation it needs to neutralize that by taking in money from the banks. So that not true?

SCHULZ: Absolutely. The ECB provides as much liquidity as banks request on a weekly basis as long as banks have collateral. This mean that there's a lot of liquidity out there.

Now the ECB is traditionally very worried about inflation so it tries to get as much money back as it can. This week for the first time in a long time it actually didn't get all the money back, which got people worried, the ECB worried. But this is probably just a blip. The ECB is still sterilizing, as they say, the whole amount.

DOS SANTOS: We can't just muddle on like this forever, can we? Now we're doing the countdown towards the end of the euro if you take, for instance, Ollie Rehn, the European economist affairs commission staying at the start of the week we've got 10 days left to sort it out. Do you think that by 2012 the Eurozone will look like a very different place than where we are today?

SCHULZ: It will certainly, if it still exists, look very different. We are heading towards fiscal union, it seems. All the signs are that next week we will get an agreement on fiscal integration which will make the zone look different. But there's still of course the outside chance that actually the EuroZone, even in its composition will be different in 2012.

DOS SANTOS: This fiscal unity, it'll take a long time to implement. Presumably we don't have that kind of time.

SCHULZ: The fiscal union itself cannot probably not stop the market panic. We see a one in three chance that this will be enough, but it's very unlikely that markets will not at least test whether this will actually work. And if you remember the ratification process of the July agreement. The October agreements are not even implemented yet. If you remember that, it took a minimum of three months to actually get all countries to agree to the initial decisions. So it's going to take a minimum of three months to agree this treaty change as well, probably more. And markets are not going to give them that much time.

DOS SANTOS: OK, Christian Schulz, thanks very much for joining us. And have a great weekend. Hopefully these things won't give you insomnia, let's say. But the rest of us have a busy week ahead next week.

Now hiring up, unemployment down, sounds like a recipe for a perfect U.S. jobs report, right? Well, the aftertaste, it isn't quite so great. We'll take you to all of the latest numbers next when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOS SANTOS: A surprise drop in U.S. unemployment gave investors cause for cheer today, though it's still not quite enough it seems to suggest that we're back to business as usual. The unemployment rate there fell to 8.6 percent, and that's from about 9 percent in the month of October. That is, as you'd imagine, a huge drop, bigger than any of the U.S. economists had been expecting it seems.

Mind you, some people are already saying it's not all good news, though, because the overall number of long-term unemployed people may have fallen slightly, but as the percentage of the workforce it actually doesn't count for this number it seems has actually increased. So if you look down into the small print, the statement isn't quite the same as it is on the top line.

When it comes to the public sector, that one is still shedding jobs, about 20,000 last month just to be exact. And we're still a long, long way from clawing back all of the jobs that, of course, we lost when the crisis began, about 8.8 million or so. The United States is less than a third of the way there if you take into account today's numbers.

So cutting the unemployment rate is good news for politicians. The markets, it seems though, aren't quite so impressed. Felicia Taylor has been speaking with U.S. Labor Secretary, our Alison Kosik is live at the New York Stock Exchange tracking the final trade for the week.

Let's start with you, Felicia. You were speaking to Hilda Solis, the U.S. Labor Secretary. Did you find that what she had to say was particularly reassuring? Because if you look down into this statement it isn't quite the same picture as you read on the top line.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely that's right, Nina. I mean, if you look into -- and that was the market reaction, basically. They had a pretty positive reaction on the number that we did create 120,000 jobs last month, but the problem is if you take a look at where those jobs were created and it was primarily in the retail sector, about 50,000 jobs were added. And that's not really stimulating enough, because frankly we're taking a look at the pre-holiday season. And those jobs may not even be there in January.

The other problem in this report is if you take a look at wages. Hourly wages actually decreased in the month of November. Overall for the year, they're up about 2 percent, 1.8 percent. But take a look at inflation, consumer price index is up more like 3.5 percent. So that also doesn't equate. That means that people are actually losing income as opposed to gaining any kind of income.

And the most significant part about this report is that possibly 315,000 people left the workforce and that's why you see that unemployment rate drop to 8.6 percent. It's not because there's such great job creation, but because the actual labor force is shrinking.

However, the Labor Secretary Madam Hilda Solis did have some positive things to say about the report. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILDA SOLIS, U.S. LABOR SECRETARY: People are finding employment as well, so it's also an indication that over the long period of time we've actually seen an increase in private sector job creation. In fact, last November I was just speaking to my staff. The unemployment rate was at 9.8 percent. So it is significant that it has dropped.

But we know that it is still too high and that we have still 13 million people out of work. But on an average, each month now for the last year we've averaged about 130,000 private sector jobs. We know we need to do more, that's why the president is talking about extending the payroll tax and also extending unemployment insurance, because we know these two factors will help to stimulate job growth and consumption. People will spend money, as a result you'll see people purchasing things, you'll see businesses more confident, and you'll see that there will be an uptick in job creation.

Nevertheless, we need to keep steady. We need to make sure that our congress moves ahead in the right direction. Hopefully we'll be able to see some movement before the end of the year. If not, I'm afraid that we're going to see the unemployment go back up and we're going to see many people out of work again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR: And that's the concern is you know whether or not we're going to be able to maintain this level of 8.6 percent. I mean, when we don't have job creation across the board. We didn't see anything in manufacturing. We didn't see anything in construction. And also the government sector has actually continued to lose jobs. They lost about 20,000 in the month of November.

So there are still worrying signs out there. It's a very slow, modest kind of a recovery. Granted it's in the right direction, but certainly not enough to keep up and create jobs at the kind of pace we'd like to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: Yeah, it just goes to show, Felicia, how difficult it is to read these economic signs, especially as we head towards the end of the year with the kind of crisis we've got here in Europe.

Stocks obviously in the United States moving on the back of these numbers. Let's go to Alison Kosik who is live at the New York Stock Exchange. Alison this hasn't really been the kind of pop we were expecting.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we did see a pop right at the opening bell. You know, stocks actually -- the Dow is up a little over 100 points, but clearly the rally has pretty much fizzled out, but we still have modest gains here. The Dow here still up 29 points, NASDAQ up 8, the S&P 500 up 4.

You know what, it's a lot about what you and Felicia were talking about. It's that realization of what the meaning is behind that eye popping headline that the unemployment rate here in the U.S. dropped to 8.6 percent from 9 percent.

You know, but investors since the opening bell they've had time to look behind that headline and really see why that rally fizzled and really asked those questions, you know, will this unemployment rate really stick? You know, 120,000 added, it's a good sign. It shows that the labor market is picking up steam, that jobs are being added, especially since we saw gains in September and October as well revised higher. So that's all good. It shows that the labor market is gaining some traction.

But the reality is, 120,000 jobs just is not enough to keep up with population growth and that unemployment rate is carrying a lot of skepticism with it. So that's why you're seeing those gains fizzle out today, although we still may end up on the positive side.

And then you look at the week, the Dow itself has gained almost 900 points just this week, Nina.

DOS SANTOS: Yeah, I was about to ask you about the week, Alison. Just put that into perspective for us. Is it largely also thanks to sort of optimism that we're finally seeing EuroZone leaders heed the calls that the markets want them to?

KOSIK: Yeah. And it is causing some relief for investors, you know. And also I think the central bank action on Wednesday, I think you're sort of seeing that after glow, that sort of happy feeling still in the mix here, because that added liquidity is certainly gaining some confidence here on Wall Street, especially. And yes, it is once again a relief for investors to see leaders in the Europe finally trying to take some concrete action and that is keeping stocks in the green today.

DOS SANTOS: OK. Alison Kosik and also Felicia Taylor live from New York. Many thanks. And you two have a great weekend.

Now, Egyptians are eagerly awaiting the results of this weekends elections. We have a record number of voters abandoning the square in favor of the polling booth in that country. We're going to be live in Cairo with the latest on the turnout.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOS SANTOS: A record number of Egyptians turned out to vote in the first round of parliamentary elections this year. Egypt's election board says that 62 percent of eligible voters cast their vote, that's the highest in the nation's history. We're still awaiting the results there which are due out any moments time, but let's take a look at how all this political turmoil has been taking a toll on Egypt's economy.

GDP in this country shrank by 4.2 percent during the first three months of this year, that's when the country was, of course, in the grip of revolution. Egypt's benchmark stock index has lost almost 44 percent of its value since the start of 2011. And foreign reserves have dwindled to just around $22 billion at the end of October. At that rate, Egypt seems is just under a year before its coffers could run dry.

CNN's Jim Clancy is following the developments live in Cairo. And he joins us now to talk about the turnout.

Jim, this is a historic moment for Egypt. Tell us about the tournout, that must be good news for people there who are embracing new democracy.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, in the words of Abdul Muaz Ibrahim (ph), the man who is the head of the commission overseeing the election, he put it this way. He said, this is the biggest turnout since the time of the Pharaohs, that was his way of saying that this was truly a historic vote, 62 percent of eligible voters, or 8.5 million Egyptians, cast their ballots in what is just the first round. We've got three more rounds of this yet to come for covering another -- many other areas of the country. So there's a lot more to go.

We don't have all of the numbers, but we have an idea on some of the individual races, some surprises certainly there. We don't have the information on the biggest number of votes, that is the bloc list. The election officials said that they are going to publish those on the web site sometime in the coming hours. That is going to give us our best detailed look at what's going on here.

Now to understand a little bit about what you're talking about the economy and also about this election I want to bring in someone who has been -- who has come all the way from Sharm el-Sheikh in the east of Egypt in order to cast his ballot this week, Ahmed Helmy.

Ahmed, why come all that way to cast a ballot?

AHMED HELMY, TOUR GUIDE: Yeah, I have the feeling that it's our time to vote and to choose the real good way to build Egypt -- to rebuild Egypt.

CLANCY: So you're whole family turned out. And I saw you watching the returns there, watching them very closely. And you were shocked at some of the things...

HELMY: Yes, because I didn't imagine that Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi got this huge percentage from the voting. For me, it was a shock.

CLANCY: Well, you mentioned one of those individual races in which one of the Al Nour party members, I think it was, a Salafis would actually call for people not to vote was a winner.

HELMY: Yes, this is the point that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi to get something like over 60 or 70 percent from the parliament. And this for us it's something I don't know from where they get this huge percentage.

CLANCY: All right. Well, you look at all of this, people don't look too shocked.

HELMY: Yes, for sure. Before the election we're saying that we have in Egypt here something like 12 million Christian and something like 3 million they are working in the tourism field and something like 10 million they from (inaudible) who again is the Salafi. So all of us agree that -- the Muslim Brotherhood who got a big percent like in Tunisia and Morocco, but not the Salafi who get the second place in the election. This was the point.

CLANCY: Big surprises. And talking with Ahmed a little bit earlier, he told me that business is down officially 25 percent on the tourist sector. He said it's more like 50 percent right now. The tourism industry here is hurting. They're hoping for a comeback in 2012.

Back to you, Nina.

DOS SANTOS: Exciting times there for Egypt. Jim Clancy, many thanks there live form Cairo.

Four more countries were dragged into the Euro crisis this evening, but we're not talking about economics. They've been drawn into the group of death for Euro 2012. We'll tell you who's playing who next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOS SANTOS: Hello and welcome back.

You're watching CNN.

I'm Nina dos Santos.

We'll have more DOS SANTOS MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment tonight.

But first, here's a roundup of the main news headlines.

We're getting the results from the phase one of Egypt's first parliamentary elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Officials say that nearly eight and-a-half million people cast ballots, or 62 percent of total eligible voters across the country. The winning candidates in the districts that voted so far have just been announced and we're awaiting a translation that will indicate which parties actually came out ahead.

A major milestone in the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. The Iraqi government has officially taken over control of Camp Victory in Baghdad. It was the largest American base in the country, at one time housing more than 40,000 service members.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is calling for a fiscal union in Europe ahead of the critical EU Summit on the debt crisis next week. She told the German parliament on Friday that the future of the euro is indivisibly linked the unification of Europe and she says that she'll be talking to almost everyone in the run-up to that crucial summit.

New numbers from the U.S. Labor Department shows that the U.S. unemployment report fell in the month of November, to its lowest level in nearly three years. But it isn't all good news. Hiring is up, but on the other hand, more people are just giving up the job search. And that's reflected in the lower jobless figures, as well.

If you're a football fan, right now, you'll either be jumping around for joy or twisting your hands in anxiety. The Euro 2012 draw has just happened, just a few hours ago.

With more on the results, let's go straight over to Pedro Pinto in Kiev, who has been following all the action -- talk about this group of death, Pedro.

It sounds ominous.

PEDRO PINTO, CNN "WORLD SPORT" ANCHOR: Yes, the name is a little -- is a little macabre, isn't it?

The Italians call it the champagne group, normally, is -- is the group with the best teams in it.

Let me break down the results, because there are a lot of mouth- watering matches to look forward to in the group phase, no doubt about that.

The draw took place here earlier this evening in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, one of the countries that's co-hosting Euro 2012, along with Poland.

And let's talk about Group A first. That includes Poland, one of the host nations. And they got an easy draw. They should be feeling pretty happy about it considering they're the lowest ranked team in the competition. They got Greece, Russia and the Czech Republic.

Group B, that's the group of death you were talking about, Nina, or the champagne group, if you prefer. It's Netherlands, Denmark, Germany -- three former winners -- and Portugal, the finalists in Euro 2004.

The defending champion, Spain, they were paired with another giant of European football, Italy. The other two teams in that group are Ireland and Croatia.

Last but not least, Ukraine, the other nation organizing the tournament next year. They were grouped together with Sweden, France and England. France and England definitely another great game in the group phase to -- to anticipate.

The tournament will start on the 8th of June in the national stadium in Warsaw, with Poland taking on Greece, maybe not the kind of hope -- high profile game that the organizers were hoping for, but nonetheless, the stadium should be full.

The stadiums were, of course, a topic of conversation leading up to the tournament, in the buildup to Euro 2012, because a lot of people feared they wouldn't be ready.

They are ready. However, the president of UEFA, the organizing body of European football, and, of course, Euro 2012, told me earlier today that he was a little concerned with the lack of progress, especially early throughout the preparation process in Poland and Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHEL PLATINI, UEFA PRESIDENT: It's a nice adventure. It will be a complicated adventure. But at the end, it will be a nice adventure, because they have look -- they have done a lot of work, Ukraine and Poland. And I am sure that it will be a very nice competition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINTO: So the stage is set for the next European Championship, the 14th edition, in Poland and Ukraine, Nina, a lot of fantastic games such as Spain versus Italy, France, England, Germany, Netherlands. I can't wait for the games to start. We've still got to wait a little over six months, though.

DOS SANTOS: Yes. Plenty of excitement building up there, Pedro.

Let's also talk about the kind of boost this is going to give places like the Ukraine. It will be a badly needed boost for the economy in place like Eastern Europe, won't it?

PINTO: Definitely. As far as Ukraine is concerned, they invested $18 billion in organizing this tournament; Poland, a little more, $20 billion, because they had more stadiums to improve than the Ukraine. These are countries that need an economic boost, a financial boost.

Of course this is a tough economic climate for -- for everyone. But especially in countries where the -- the salaries are very low, there's a lack of jobs.

So what happens, normally, Nina, as, is there is a lot of criticism leading up to these tournaments as far as the budgets are concerned, the amount of money that is being spent. But there is always a huge economic windfall and boost as a result of these tournaments, not only from the tourism point of view, but also from foreign investment. And countries like these are really getting the first opportunity to open themselves up to the world, because for so long, of course, the Ukraine, with -- with the Soviet Union and even Poland, being in the Eastern Bloc, they didn't have a chance to compete financially with -- with Western Europe. And this hopefully -- at least that's what they're thinking -- will allow them to -- to be more of a part of the European continent from more than a geographical point of view, but also a social, cultural and financial point of view, as well -- Nina.

DOS SANTOS: OK, Pedro Pinto.

We'll look forward to it.

Get thyself into a warm room and have a cup of coffee.

Has been out there in the cold for hours. And Kiev can be freezing at this time of year.

Up next on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, this time next week, it could be all over. Our countdown to the EU Summit deadline continues. And our resident cartoonist, Andy Bunday, has been twiddling away on this week's events.

We'll get his take on the situation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOS SANTOS: Let's take a look at the big board one final time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just about holding onto its gains from earlier on in the session. We've actually pulled back about 100 points from the highs earlier today. But barring a last minute collapse, it looks as though we're about to finish the week up on a high note. The Dow is up about .1 of 1 percent.

Here in Europe, though, it seems as though there are only eight days left to save the Eurozone. Olli Rehn says that we've got until this time next week to come up with one final plan to fix the Eurozone.

Here's another reminder of his warning earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLLI REHN, EU ECONOMIC & MONETARY AFFAIRS COMMISSIONER: We are now entering the critical period of 10 days to complete and conclude the crisis response of the European Union.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: So, we're carrying on with our countdown. We've been opening the door of every single day on our specially created advent calendar. And so far, what we've seen is on November the 30th, we had quite a bit of intervention from the world's biggest central banks. The Fed and five others pumping money into the system, making it cheaper for banks to lend.

Then, on December the 1st, well, we had all of that -- that same talk of fiscal union here from people, in particular, also, the head of the ECB.

And December the 2nd is today, while, a gift from the markets.

Yes, it's hard to believe that during these current times of crisis, we have had European stocks finishing the week on quite a bit of a high note, putting on their best performance on a weekly basis since, what, back in a couple of years at least.

Of course, we did see some of those big gains on Wednesday after the central banks moved to help their countries and currencies move more freely.

But if you think that this means the crisis is, by any means, over, I must say, the jury is out on that one. You may well feel disappointed.

Right now, we're not drawing any conclusions. But we are bringing back our political cartoonist, Andy Bunday, who's been busy, as you well know, since the start of the show. And this is his masterpiece creation. We're going to be discussing exactly what all this means.

Let's have a look at it.

I recognize a few familiar characters.

Is that David Cameron, by any chance...

BUNDAY: It's David Cameron...

DOS SANTOS: -- and Nicolas Sarkozy.

BUNDAY: Indeed, yes. Yes.

DOS SANTOS: Go on. What's going on here?

BUNDAY: Well, I think, as you said, it all started, really, with the -- the Eurozone here ticking like a bomb, 10 days to save the world, so says Olli Rehn.

And the immediate response to that, Captain America came in and said release some funding.

So maybe this is good news for Mr. Papademos and for Mr. Monti in Greece and Italy. Obviously, the repercussions of this have actually spread wider than those countries now.

But then we've today, of course, this summit between Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Cameron. And I've -- I've drawn Nicolas Sarkozy sort of pushing Cameron away, which, of course, is Cameron's.

DOS SANTOS: But he can't fix...

BUNDAY: He...

DOS SANTOS: -- the bazooka.

BUNDAY: -- he's sort of tinkering with the -- he's tinkering with this apparatus. If he can -- if he can kind of get this ticking clock to stop, then maybe he can save it.

Mr. Cameron said that -- the Conservative Party, their solution to everything is to cut something, so he's got his wire clippers. But he's being kind of pushed out of the way here by -- by Mr. Sarkozy, which is his great fear. I guess he probably just wants to somehow set up some European control and claw back some -- some kind of response.

But meanwhile, Mrs. Merkel up here is clutching the Lisbon Treaty. She is actually slightly disagreeing (INAUDIBLE)...

DOS SANTOS: It looks like a blank piece of paper.

BUNDAY:

Yes, well, it is at the moment.

I think it's got to be rewritten, hasn't it?

An extensive redraft is needed, because whereas Mr. Rehn said 10 days, she's actually saying I know there is no quick fix to this, this is the -- this is going to be a long project.

DOS SANTOS: And what I really like about this is that all of the eurocrats you may see are in pinstriped suits, whereas the EU leaders are depicted as, let's say, superheroes coming to save the day.

BUNDAY: Well, I think they're -- I hope they're slightly inept superheroes. As a cartoonist, you don't want to do anything that could be construed as flattering by a politician. So I'll give them (INAUDIBLE) they're slightly weedy and sort of bent over. Perhaps except for America, because America has at least done something (INAUDIBLE).

DOS SANTOS: Yes. And we know that Tim Geithner is doing -- making another trip to Europe to try and tell these leaders to get their act together, because otherwise, the global economy is also going to be facing some problems of its own.

Andy Bunday, thank you ever so much for joining us there.

BUNDAY: Thank you.

DOS SANTOS: Now let's change tact a little bit.

With weeks of little rainfall, the concerns of drought, it seems, are increasing in places like Mrs. Merkel's Germany. But the lack of rain is starting to reveal an entirely new fear, one that Andy Bunday perhaps referred to earlier on in his cartoon.

Pedram Javaheri is at the CNN International Weather Center to explain all.

Tell us what the link is.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, the link here is, of course, the lack of rainfall going back just the month of November, one of the driest on record for portions of Germany, and for the country, really, as a whole.

But you go in now for a closer look and just outside of Frankfurt, the -- the city of Koblenz, there's the area, the Rhine River. And within this region, officials now, as the water level starts to decrease, have noticed something beginning to really rear its ugly head. And that's actually a bomb believed to have been left in place, dropped in during World War II, some 70 years ago, in this part of the world, possibly by the Royal Air Force. But left in place. It's about 1.8 tons. And now they're having one of the larger evacuations for some 45,000 people. That's about half the population of Koblenz going to be evacuated on Sunday within a 1.6 kilometer radius. That's the evacuation zone.

And they're going to try to defuse this bomb. And the concern is if this bomb actually detonates, it could actually shatter windows within a one kilometer radius. So everyone going to be taken out of this region.

And, of course, the rainfall is to blame or, depending on how you look at it, to help out the situation here and be able to reveal the bomb that's been there for decades on end.

But one of the largest undetonated bombs on record. And, again, Mother Nature helping out a little bit here this coming weekend -- Nina.

DOS SANTOS: OK, Pedram, many thanks for that.

And that's it for this edition of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

I'm Nina dos Santos in London.

Have a great weekend, whatever you're doing.

"MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBYN CURNOW, HOST: You're watching MARKETPLACE AFRICA.

I'm Robyn Curnow here at the Durban Harbor.

Now, this is the busiest port in Africa. And like most industry here in South Africa, it gets its energy from coal. Now, that's a bit of a sticking point as South Africa hosts the latest round of international climate change talks here in Durban.

So Nkepile Mabuse now looks at how South Africa has to balance its climate change obligations with its need to generate more power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Coal is the new gold in South Africa. Last year, it outperformed the precious metal that has for years distinguished this country in the eyes of the world. The fossil fuel may be one of the worst polluters on the planet, but coal raked in some $10 billion U.S., according to Chamber of Mines.

It's also creating entrepreneurs like Andrew Magiya. The 30 -year-old tells me his mining logistics company is turning over $200,000 per month.

ANDREW MAGIYA, COAL BUSINESSMAN: People want coal and in big numbers and -- of which we cannot give in satisfy for the export market that really is locally, as well, government has produced -- uses coal, all the firms -- the big firms that produces manufacturing having everything. They use coal.

MABUSE: South Africa is the fourth largest coal exporter in the world, with reserves estimated at more than 40 billion tons. But it is domestic demand that drives the industry. Over 90 percent of the country's electricity produced by power utility Eskom is generated from coal.

The government controlled company has some of the biggest power plants in the world and is busy building more, a move that has attracted the attention of international environmentalist group, Greenpeace, which wants South Africa to invest more in renewable energy.

MELITA STEEL, GREENPEACE: The South African government is very good at talking about climate change and acting on renewables, but less than 1 percent of South Africa's electricity comes from renewables. And that's a pretty sorry tale.

MABUSE: While China and the United States are by far the worst air polluters, South Africa has that dubious distinction on the continent. The government has committed to reducing 34 percent of its carbon emissions by 2020, a target some say could be unreachable in a coal-addicted nation. Even the energy minister acknowledges switching will be difficult.

DIPUO PETERS, SOUTH AFRICAN ENERGY MINISTER: If today we say no to coal, it means the (INAUDIBLE) of all the power plants that we have in South Africa.

What is going to happen to our country?

MABUSE: Minister Peters says her department is involved in various initiatives, including generating electricity from waste. She says she's also considering the sugar industry's proposal to add 1.6 gigawatts per hour of power to the national grid through turning sugar waste, known as bagasse, into an energy source.

PETERS: We have got a plan of one million solar water (INAUDIBLE) by 2014, one million solar water (INAUDIBLE) saves 3,000 megawatts -- 3,000 megawatts. It's a potential power plant.

MABUSE: So coal remains the bedrock of many economies.

(on camera): Some of South Africa's major employers are also among the country's top polluters. They warn that without viable options, government's ambitious plans to reduce carbon emissions will negatively impact on efforts to grow their economy and create jobs.

PETERS: And we want to (INAUDIBLE) 5,000 megawatts of solar power so that we can, in the next 10 years, prove to ourselves and to the world that solar or wind can be a (INAUDIBLE).

Why are we looking at the other technologies?

If we were so addicted to coal, we wouldn't be looking at the alternatives like cleaning (INAUDIBLE).

MABUSE (voice-over): Businessmen like Magiya are watching the climate change conference with some trepidation.

MAGIYA: At the moment, we still need more information for us to know exactly what's happening. We cannot say as -- as of now whether or not we can continue creating more jobs and all that without having understood the whole concept of what the current initiatives.

MABUSE (on camera): But are you worried?

MAGIYA: As a businessman, no, I'm not, because if there's no business in the coal industry, there is business somewhere else. But as a coal businessman or a coal (INAUDIBLE) I am worried because if it comes to a push and we're going to have to mine less, it means selling the (INAUDIBLE) and making less mining in the coal industry.

MABUSE: A delicate balancing act and one that may lead to the collapse of the Durban talks.

Nkepile Mabuse, CNN, Woodbank, South Africa.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CURNOW: OK, let's take a look at some more numbers.

The South African government says that 77 percent of all energy comes from coal. South Africa is the largest carbon emitter on the African continent, the 12th largest in the world.

Now, South Africa is also home to the single biggest coal export terminal that's designed to process more than 90 million tons of coal a year.

When we return, we speak to the CEO of one of the big banks here in South Africa. I asked him about the role businesses can play in confronting global warming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: Now, one of the big issues here at the climate change talks in Durban is how to finance initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions.

Well, our guest on FaceTime is Sim Tshabalala.

He's the CEO of Standard Bank South Africa.

And he believes that environmental sustainability makes business sense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIM TSHABALALA, CEO, STANDARD BANK, SOUTH AFRICA: I think even for business, sustainability is important in the long-term. It's important because we all want to do something about the environmental degradation. Acting as stewards of financial institutions, for example, we want to leave our businesses in better shape than we found them for -- for future generations.

But broader than that, it's also a business opportunity because of the various mechanisms that apply, which you and I can talk about a bit later.

CURNOW: So it need not be a drain on finances. What you're saying is that investing in climate change initu -- initiatives can -- can make money?

TSHABALALA: It makes profit commercial sense. Yes.

CURNOW: Why?

TSHABALALA: Indeed, well...

CURNOW: Give me an example.

TSHABALALA: -- to give you an example, so here in South Africa, we've just been through a major program, the first part of a process in terms of which the government is allowing independent power producers to enter the grid. We have approved over 12 billion rands' worth of these projects. We've participated in at least half of them. They may not be granted. They may not be approved by the upper authorities. But there's a large number of them where we are participating.

We perceive this as a -- a new asset class, consistent with sustainability.

CURNOW: The more I read about this, particularly about climate change and who's doing what on the many different levels, I sometimes get the sense that the way this is going to work -- if it does work -- is it's going to -- it's going to be very bottom up. The politicians can go on talking and trying to agree on targets and whatever. But it's people on the ground, it's businesses that are quietly doing their own thing.

And you've said -- and you're helping, perhaps, to facilitate that.

TSHABALALA: Yes, but I wouldn't be as harsh and cynical as you are.

CURNOW: And cynical and...

TSHABALALA: I would...

CURNOW: -- I'm a journalist. I'm allowed to be cynical.

TSHABALALA: Yes, and I'm a banker and I'm not allowed to be cynical. But I think that the logic goes something like this. Frankly, legitimate governments need to take the lead. So the legitimate democratically -- democratically elected governments must take the lead on policy. And business, as an organ of society, together with other organs of society, must follow and do what they need to do, having regard to what they do for a living.

We, as bankers, will take direction from the authorities on what happens at COP 17. We stand ready to be supported. We support the -- the White Paper on climate change in South Africa.

So my argument to you is, yes, it's important for the authorities to take the lead. Business, as organs of civil society, must do what they need to in buying and selling their products and they must act in concert and in partnership with society, but wanting to make money in the process. We're not a charity. We're -- we're a business, after all.

CURNOW: We're talking climate change.

TSHABALALA: Yes.

CURNOW: This is climate change.

TSHABALALA: Yes.

CURNOW: This is one issue...

TSHABALALA: Yes.

CURNOW: -- that a company has to deal with in the 21st century in terms of planning ahead.

TSHABALALA: Yes.

CURNOW: You're in Africa. This is the end of the year.

Looking back, what, for you, have been the biggest challenges?

TSHABALALA: The big challenges have been as a banker, difficulty in lending out money, because both corporate and consumers have been deleveraging. They've been borrowing less than we would have liked them to.

The result of that, for a bank, is that we don't make as much new interest income. We don't generate as much revenues as we would have -- have liked to.

People are buying and selling fewer goods, so the transactions and fees and commissions, as a consequence, are -- are less. And yet, we've got thousands of people that we employ. We employ over 50,000 people throughout the world, the bulk of which are on the African continent. They have to be paid regardless of whether you and I transact.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

Sim Tshabalala there, the CEO of Standard Bank South Africa.

Now let's take a look at what's making business news headlines in Africa this week.

(ON SCREEN)

Trending

Tanzania's Oil Deal

Tanzania has awarded a $500 million contract to Swiss firm Augusta Energy to import 540,000 tons of oil through bulk procurement over the first two months of 2012.

The deal marks a new bulk procurement system of oil imports in Tanzania, a project that's aimed at lowering fuel prices.

Massive Gas Find in Mozambique

U.S. oil and gas firm Anadarko Petroleum has announced the discovery of 15 to 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in its field off the coast of Mozambique.

The discovery, up from an initial estimate of six trillion cubic feet, has helped upgrade Mozambique as a potentially major gas exporter.